December 23, 2013

A man who had been a “person of interest” in the 2007 murder of a 68-year-old woman in North Richland Hills, was shot to death Sunday night in Oklahoma City, police said.

Whitley Bowley, believed to be in his mid 30s, was gunned down in what police believe was domestic disturbance turned violent at a home in the 14000 block of Scott Street, said Lt. Kevin Parton, spokesman for Oklahoma City police.

Investigator Keith Bauman, police spokesman in North Richland Hills, confirmed Monday that Bowley was one of a three men who were considered persons of interest in the death of Marianne Wilkinson (shown here) on Dec. 9, 2007.

Wilkinson, 68, was shot to death while answering the doorbell at her home in the 8400 block of Spence Court in North Richland Hills, a possible case of mistaken identity.

Taylor’s wife, with whom he was going through a divorce at the time of Wilkinson’s death, lived in a home with the same address number on a parallel cul-de-sac — one block away from the Wilkinson home.

Lt. Parton said he learned from media in Oklahoma City that Bowley had been a person of interest in the Texas cold case.

He said Bowley’s girlfriend called 911 at about 8:30 p.m. to report that he had been beating her and she shot him.

“She took the magazine out of the gun, set it down and went outside to meet with police,” Parton said.

The woman cooperated with officers who questioned her, but there were no arrests on Sunday, Parton said.

The case will be submitted to a district attorney, who will decide whether to prosecute the woman, Parton said.

On Thursday the squad was busy unearthing the man's grave to test for DNA evidence.

“The best result we can hope for is to identify the individual and in doing that find out things that lead us to a suspect,” said James Ferguson, a squad member. “The killer might be getting a little old. Usually, suspects are about the same age as their victims. So this one would be in his 70s.”

July 10, 2013

Editor's note: This post was changed to add the verb "was," which was mistakenly left out earlier. Thanks to reader for pointing that out.

Investigators believe this man was around 30 when he was fatally shot and then dumped in a field 14 miles northwest of Cleburne.

That was in 1972. Since then, he has remained unnamed and his killer free.

But this case was recently reopened by the Johnson County’s Sheriff Department’s Cold Case Squad, a group of retired law enforcement officers working together to bring new life into investigations that have long gone stagnant.

March 07, 2013

Ricky James Jack was scheduled to be let out of prison Thursday after serving time on some theft charges, but there was this other matter about some DNA evidence.

Jack was charged Tuesday with capital murder in connection with the sexual assault and slaying of Ella Sterling, whose partially clothed body was found June 20, 2005, in brush behind a Fort Worth convenience store. The arrest came after cold case investigator Sarah Jane Waters identified clothing that could be screened for evidence using current forensic testing.

And that’s not the only case made recently by Waters using DNA evidence.

The second cold case is nearly 30 years old, to the day.

On March 13, 1983, popular Fort Worth pawn shop owner Melvin Lavine was shot to death during a home invasion robbery.

But now, three decades later, police have obtained an arrest warrant for a 48-year-old county jail inmate in Abilene who investigators say has been linked through DNA to the crime scene.

Benjamin W. Bewley, who is in the Taylor County Jail on charges of felony driving while intoxicated and parole violation, now faces a charge of capital murder on accusations that he fatally shot Lavine.

The break came after Waters submitted evidence from the back door of Lavine’s home. A DNA profile was developed and it pointed to Bewley.